Wang Zu takes Lu Xun’s “Blessing” as an example to put together
a story of a person who has sinned himself and tries to justify it. Xiang
Linsao has been through a series of happy and unhappy events in her
life. She started as an indentured servant, got paid, got married, and
was blessed with children. However, her husband died of typhus, and
one child of hers was eaten by a wolf while harvesting beans outside.
There are dark times.
She has post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, she feels guilty, depressed,
and anxious. She goes to the mausoleum of the land to cleanse her sin,
donates an offering, and is released from guilt. However, her employer
does not like her because she disturbs her morals. Even at the festival,
a thin woman who has no work and asks for her soul after death and
has no blood adds to the stupidity of the “Frog”.
花村嘉英（2022）「莫言の「蛙」でシナジーのメタファーを考える」より translated by Yoshihisa Hanamura